It is known in the art that plant essential oils, that is oils derived from plants by distillation, expression or extraction may have antimicrobial activity when exposed to bacterial cells, yeast and mold. Consumer acceptance of these essential oils is high because they usually have the pleasant fragrance of the plant from which they were extracted. When used for animal use, the animals do not commonly shy away from them because again, they have the odor of plants from which they were derived, and such odors are not unfamiliar to many animals.
Essential oils mixed with carriers have a lot of potential veterinary and human uses. For example in the veterinary world they may be used as teat dips, or disinfecting topicals such as for skin ulcers, for shampoos, for topical gels and creams, for anti-fungals, and even can be taken internally for use in the GI tract, such as for scours products. These final or finished products are collectively referred to herein as “finished products”.
There is a continuing need for increasing the cellular uptake of plant essential oils in order to enhance their anti-bacterial effect. Some researchers have theorized that plant essential oils soften the walls of the bacteria then permeate them thus causing an enhanced anti-bacterial effect. (see, Vaara, “Agents That Increase the Permeability of the Outer Membrane”, Microbiological Reviews, September 1992, Vol. 56(3); and Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,958 that teaches addition of at least one sesquiterpenoid to advance the antimicrobial effect of antimicrobial compounds.
In the ever increasing efforts to enhance antimicrobial effectiveness Applicant has now discovered that a combination of plant essential oils (blends) provides increased enhancement; and moreover the combination of oils may be used with other known additional enhancers to even further maximize effectiveness of many disinfecting topicals.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide plant essential oil-derived antimicrobial compositions, that use a combination of essential oils, and in some cases added enhancers are also used with the oil blends, to achieve a maximized antimicrobial effect.
It is also an object of this invention to prepare a variety of different antimicrobial compositions based on the above discovery that are useful for veterinary or human use.
The method or means of accomplishing at least the above objectives will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention which follows hereinafter.